Friday, May 17, 2013

Short drive today since we were only going from Des Moines to Omaha. It was a nice day for a road trip with partly cloudy to sunny skies all the way.

We left our Motel this morning without our coffee so stopped along the way to fill our mugs. The turn off was at Earlham, a small town just a few miles east of Des Moines. On our way into town we saw an old farm silo just off the road, so on the way out we stopped to take a picture. The view from the “leaving” town side was much more interesting. Obviously built in 1919.

On our way to Indianapolis we spotted a rest area that had a modern windmill blade on display. It was on the north side of I-80 between Casey and Adair.

The 148 foot, 23,000 pound blade is mounted outside the rest area building. The inside has been redone with tile murals showing the wind turbine…..

…….and the use of the turbine production……

We arrived in the Omaha area with lots of spare time so took a little time to see the Union Pacific museum in Council Bluffs. We had tried to see it before, but it had been closed on our earlier attempts. The museum is in an old Carnegie library building and has nice displays of the history of the Union Pacific.

It even has a time machine where you can be transported back to the time period of the building of the transcontinental railroad.

Tonight, the Omaha Symphony at the Holland Performing Arts center. Then tomorrow visit with grandchildren and then a short drive home.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

We left Indianapolis this morning and drove to Des Moines, Iowa. Nice day for driving with partly cloudy skies and nice temperatures. Of course having a quilter on board means we “break for quilt shops”. Actually the new rule is, if we see a quilt shop bill board, we have to stop.

Today we stopped at Threads of Time in Danville, IL (just across the Indiana border). What a big shop. they not only sell fabric and all the other quilter supplies, but also teach classes and even run retreats. In back, they have a lovely garden which is a great place for husbands to wait for the shopper!

A little history……President Lincoln stopped by the previous building that was on the site before the quilt shop building while running for re-election. I asked if they had a “Lincoln Slept Here” sign….and apparently there was one, and they are trying to find it!!

Lunch today was at a Steak ‘n Shake in Peoria. That has become a once a trip eating location every time we travel East.

This lovely tree was at the Steak ’n Shake and worthy of a picture

Driving across Indiana, Illinois and Iowa we say many flowering trees and bushes. It is a lovely time of year to travel, with the new green grass, flowers everywhere, and fields newly cultivated.

Dinner tonight was in the Historic East Village in Des Moines at the Olympic Flame Greek restaurant. Nice food at a reasonable price.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Well, it seems like the fun and visiting is coming to an end. Yesterday and today we visited more friends and relatives both in South Bend and in Indianapolis. Tomorrow we are heading West and will be home by sometime on Saturday.

Yesterday (Tuesday) we drove to South Bend, Indiana to call on Fern’s friend Marguerite. Fern of course was Katie’s Mom. She and Marguerite were close friends for most of their lives. Marguerite recently celebrated her 102nd birthday. She is still very active and is even into writing haiku.

Katie & Marguerite

We then visited Katie’s Aunt Sis and one of her daughters, Jane. Sis is the widow of Fern’s brother Arthur. She fell and broke her leg and is currently in re-habilitation, but is doing well. It was good to see both of them and talk about old times and family history.

Katie, Aunt Sis, Cousin Jane

After the visits we drove back to Indianapolis where we had a nice dinner at Kona Jack’s Fish Market & Sushi Bar, located in North central Indianapolis. We met, Cousin Jill and Cousin Craig, along with brother Bob and sister-in-law Terry there. Excellent fish, well prepared at reasonable prices.

Today (Wednesday) was a less busy day. Katie and Terry did a lot of quilting, with a nice break around noon for lunch at The Journey. The Journey is a buffet with a variety of foods including Sushi, Prime Rib, Seafood, Chinese and Japanese cooking. We met Cousin Barbara and three of her children there along with Bob and Terry. It was a nice meal and a wonderful visit with all of them.

Monty, Katie, Terry, Cassandra, Barbara Bob, Sarah, Matthew

So tomorrow, we load up the car and point it in a generally west direction. We have a couple more places to stop at before we reach the end of the trip. So, stay tuned……..more to come.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

What a fun three days since my last entry. They has been fun filled days of visiting friends and family.

On Friday our good friends from Louisville and honorary Ostrander cousins Charles and Karen drove up on Friday and spent the weekend. It was fun visiting, catching up on all of our kids and grandkids, reliving old times. Charles, Bob, and I kept ourselves busy yesterday trying to solve an electrical problem in the house. There are three outlets that suddenly quit working so we put on our engineering hats and tried to solve the problem. After working off and on during the day and a couple trips to hardware stores, we decided we know what the problem wasn’t. We also decided that we had the “ability” to solve the problem put not the “agility” to solve the problem since it was going to involved crawling through the attic and digging through insulation.

Meanwhile the “girls” worked on quilts and quilted postcard and kept the “engineers” fed. Oh yes, we also watched Karen try on hats.

We all also enjoyed visiting with NiCole, Alison, and Jon. Alison is growing up too fast.

Sunday, Cousin Jill, Laura, and Craig came by the house. It was another day of visiting, comparing smart phone apps, and pointing cameras at each others. We had a lovely meal of sloppy joe’s, baked beans, two kinds of pie, and a “dirt” cake.

Of course the day is not complete without the obligatory cousins pictures without and with the in-laws

Craig, Jill, Laura, Katie, Bob

Craig, Monty, Jill, Laura, Katie, Bob, Terry

Katie received calls from Dan and everyone was able to enjoy a Skype call from Ruby, Tom and Holly. It was the first time that Ruby and Alison were able to meet each other. Hopefully that will happen more often in the future.

Happy Mothers Day to all of the Mom’s in “reader” land. We hope your day was fun and you were able to enjoy your families.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Today was mainly a travel day, again on well traveled roads. We drove from Des Moines to Indianapolis along the interstate….through occasional rain showers most of the way.

We did make a couple of interesting stops along the way. The first was in LeClaire, Iowa, home to American Pickers and the birth place of Buffalo Bill. The reason we stopped however was because Katie saw a Quilt Shop billboard we saw along the highway. The town is along the Mississippi river and has a main street of reconditioned old buildings. It is a cute town.

We had lunch at the Blue Iguana along the main street.

We got into a snow storm while we were there…..well a storm of Pear blossoms!!

Yes, the American Pickers garage is there and was open for business. For reference it is right behind the quilt shop. Unfortunately we didn’t take time for pictures.

Shortly before we got to Indianapolis, we stopped to eat in Brownsburg. We ate at the Boulder Creek Dining Company.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

After a fall, winter, and early spring of not traveling very far, we are on the road again. We are on our way to Indianapolis to visit Bob and Terry. Our good friends from Louisville are going to drive to Indianapolis for the weekend, and we expect to see Jill, Scott, Laura, and maybe Craig. Basically all the Ostrander kids and cousins. It should be fun.

We had a nice drive from Norfolk to Des Moines this afternoon. Some rain showers, but traffic was reasonable and the rain occasional and light for the most part. Since we want to get there sooner than later, we drove the road well traveled. Unlike Garey and Janiece, who have taken the road less traveled for their recent road trips.